This was a planned city, set on a curious system of circular streets and radiating avenues.

Waves of Italian immigration throughout the 20th century have had a lasting effect on Griffith’s culture and identity, bringing winemaking knowhow, a wider variety of fruits and vegetables and a joy for food and drink that is unmistakable today.

You can treat yourself to cannoli, gelato and authentic salami from businesses that have been going since the 1950s, and spend days touring the Riverina’s cellar doors.

1. Griffith Pioneer Park Museum

Source: Griffith Pioneer Park Museum / Facebook

At this excellent museum complex you can dip into the history of Griffith but also discover how the massive Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area created the Riverina’s “food bowl”. As well as a huge collection of artefacts covering more than a century of local history, the park has several heritage buildings that have been moved to this site.

Bagtown is a throwback to Griffith’s pioneer days in the 1910s, carefully recreating historic amenities like the post office, general store, newsagent, hairdresser, bakery and more.

Griffith’s Italian ties are explained at the Italian Museum and Cultural Centre, with absorbing firsthand accounts by immigrants, household items, clothing, tools and more.

Finally the Wine Museum, supported by several local wine brands, recalls the birth and development of winemaking in one of Australia’s most productive regions.

2. Riverina Wine Region

Source: Chase Clausen / shutterstock

Around a quarter of all the wine produced in Australia comes from the Riverina wine region, surrounding Griffith.

Here warm climate varietals like Semillon, Shiraz and Chardonnay grow on flat plains in loamy, red-brown earth.

Vineyards are bathed in year-round sunshine, with baking hot summers and cool winters.

Griffith’s Italian heritage comes to the fore, as you’ll tell from names like De Bortoli and Calabria Family Wines.

These are just two of a whole directory of wineries near Griffith, and special mention has to go to Yarran, Berton and McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate.

Such is the abundance that it might be easier to put your wine experience in the hands of Griffith Tours or Bella Vita Tours, giving you a custom itinerary.

3. Hermit’s Cave

Source: RoseB0311 / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0

On Griffith’s north-eastern outskirts there’s a sudden rocky mass, which is actually an outlying hill of the McPherson Ranges.

Between 1929 and 1952 the reclusive Italian immigrant Valerio Ricetti made this place his home, singlehandedly building shelters, water cisterns, drystone walls, gardens and paths over a kilometres of the escarpment.

There’s almost no equivalent to Hermit’s Cave in all of Australia, and the site was placed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 2007. You can hike up the stiff slope to admire Ricetti’s work, read the information boards and enjoy far-reaching views over the Riverina’s fertile plains and up to the peaks of Cocoparra National Park.

4. Lake Wyangan

Source: Cezary Wojtkowski / shutterstock

This recreation honey pot for the Griffith area is manmade, and took shape in the 1950s on the site of former gypsum mines and an existing natural swamp.

What you’ll find at Lake Wyangan is a scenic expanse of water with open green space on its shores for picnics and games.

By the water are barbecues, sheltered picnic areas, a free campsite with power, toilets and hot water, as well as a free-to-use boat ramp and jetty.

Children can make the most of the playground, and will have a great time checking out the animal enclosures for chickens, deer and goats.

5. Griffith Regional Art Gallery

Source: guruXOX / shutterstock

Griffith boasts one of the top regional galleries in New South Wales, housed in a handsome Art Deco building from the 1930s.

In its inventory are two important collections: First off there’s the life’s work of fashion designers, Ross Weymouth and John Clarringbold, comprising no fewer than 12 winning items from the Australian Gown of the Year Awards.

The gallery also holds Australia’s National Contemporary Jewellery Collection, gaining new pieces every other year from the biennial National Contemporary Jewellery Award, hosted here.

On the program are up ten exhibitions every year, showing selections from the collection, as well as landmark touring shows and showcases for local talent.

6. Spring Fest

Source: Griffith Spring Fest / Facebook

Every October, Griffith celebrates the arrival of spring with two weeks of street parties, food, wine and open gardens.

The event’s signature is the spectacle of more than 70 sculptures along Banna Avenue, made with local oranges by dozens of volunteers.

These are made up of 100,000 oranges and are inspired by the famed lemon sculptures of Menton, France.

They take on all kinds of weird and wonderful forms, from a Cinderella-style carriage to a giant guitar and grand piano.

The sculptures can be admired for free and are the linchpin of Spring Fest, which also stages a garden festival with open garden tours, a multicultural festival and a lively launch party.

7. Bertoldo’s Bakery

Source: TAROToon2324 / shutterstock

This beloved family bakery/deli on Banna Avenue is now in its fourth generation, and opened in 1952. If you love discovering time-honoured local spots, Bertoldo’s Bakery is a must.

You can drop by for super-fresh bread, and a choice of Italian sweet treats like cannoli, biscotti and gelato.

Among the savoury options are a range of sandwiches, wraps, sausage rolls and roast chicken, while the coffee is up there with the best in town.

8. Codemo Smallgoods

Source: Yuriy Golub / shutterstock

Another Griffith institution, this company has been in the smallgoods (salami, ham and sausages) business since the 1950s.

Codemo’s delectable choice of cured meats is prepared on site in small batches.

There’s a wide variety of prosciutto, bacon, cooked ham and sausages.

And when it comes to salami you can choose from a host of northern and southern Italian specialities, including everything from extra hot to mild, as well as black olive and cacciatore.

Of course, you’ll be free to sample all these cold cuts before you buy.

9. City Park

Source: Andrey Burstein / shutterstock

Families with restless children need look no further than this park that opened in 2011 on the edge of the CBD.

The headline at City Park is the sensational playground, which comes with the tallest rope-built climbing frame in the Southern Hemisphere, a double flying fox and an enormous splash pad.

There’s also a fenced-in playground for toddlers, exercise stations and ample lawns for picnics and relaxation.

The park is threaded by Griffith’s canal, with waterside paths and a footbridge crossing the water.

10. Cocoparra National Park

Source: Wright Out There / shutterstock

A short way north-east of Griffith, the flat plains of the Riverina region are interrupted by a range of prominent hills, the tallest of which is Mount Bingar at 455 metres.

These are conserved by an 8,347-hectare national park, a destination for bushwalkers who want to tackle some rocky scenery and soak up some marvellous views.

Something compelling abut Cocoparra National Park is how the landscape changes through the seasons, and if you happen to be in the area after heavy rainfall, be sure to visit the park to see its waterfalls in full flow.

You can gaze awestruck at the creased rock faces, hike in forests of kurrajong, Dwyer’s mallee gum and white cypress pine, and discover beautiful wildflowers and orchids in spring.

11. Centenary Sculptures in IOOF Park

Source: Visit Griffith / Facebook

Directly west of City Park is another green space name for the International Order of Odd Fellows.

In 2016 a set of seven granite sculptures was erected here to celebrated the city’s centenary.

These works were hewn from three-tonne blocks in a remarkable flurry of activity, involving 17 intense days of labour by leading stone sculptors recruited from around the world.

Represented in the park are Liu Yang (China), Renate Verbrugge (New Zealand), Chris Peterson (Netherlands), Miguel Isla (Spain), TOBEL (Germany), Francesco Panceri (Italy) and Hew Chee Fong (Australia). Each sculpture interprets the theme, “The meaning of water in Griffith, and the city’s cultural diversity”.

12. Griffith Regional Theatre

Source: thanasus / shutterstock

For live entertainment, the local go-to is the Griffith Regional Theatre by the university, seating 520 and equipped with state-of-the-art stage, sound and lighting facilities.

The theatre’s program is curated to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, so along with cutting-edge drama and dance there will be major touring music artists, tribute acts, musicals, cabaret, shows for children, comedy and a lot more besides.

The venue is also used for community and school performances, while Artspace is an annual program of exhibitions by artists from the region.

13. Altina Wildlife Park

Source: Moisieiev Igor / shutterstock

For a family day out, this zoo is a simple drive down Kidman Way and is known for the unique tours taking you past enclosures for endangered Australian and exotic species.

These tours are given on horse-drawn (pulled by a Clydesdale) or motorised carts, in the company of an entertaining and informative guide, and lasting around 2.5 hours.

During this adventure you’ll witness a wealth of animals, from African lions to white rhinos, spotted hyenas, American bison and lemurs.

The trips are arranged to coincide with feeding times, for an up-close glimpse of behaviour only seen in the wild.

14. Griffith Visitor Information Centre

Source: TK Kurikawa / shutterstock

On Griffith’s main thoroughfare, Banna Avenue, the visitor information centre is impossible to miss for the WWII-era Fairey Firefly mounted atop a column.

This is the Griffith Memorial to Airmen, unveiled in 1969, and the plane was used for naval reconnaissance in the war.

The information centre behind is an ideal first stop in Griffith.

For starters, there’s an interpretive display area charting Griffith’s progress since 1916, and of course you can peruse all the usual brochures, leaflets and maps.

The gift shop is also worthwhile, stocking locally made Indigenous arts and crafts and delicious artisanal goodies from the area like honey, prunes, balsamic vinegar, wine, nougat, olive oil, nougat and relishes.

15. Griffith Easter Party

Source: Sofiaworld / shutterstock

Another landmark on Griffith’s event’s calendar is this multi-day celebration over the entire Easter weekend.

The party has its roots in the local wine industry and usually coincides the end of vintage each year.

From Thursday to Monday there will wine tasting, food stalls, cooking demonstrations, jet boat races and a ton of activities for families.

Little ones can attend an Easter-themed story time, hunt for Easter eggs, while for grownups there’s live music at local clubs and pubs into the night.

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The towns along the valley are linked by the Princes Highway, putting a ton of attractions and amenities in easy reach.

Within a 15-minute radius of Newborough are high-quality museums, a regional art gallery, a scenic lake for recreation and a fabulous rose garden.

Ten minutes north of the town, you can leave the valley behind and venture into the southern foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

There the native eucalypt woodland is brocaded with wildflowers in spring and you can hike to lookouts to see the Latrobe Valley from the first ridge.

1. Lake Narracan

Source: BrianBeahr at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia | Public domain

Spreading across more than 280 hectares, this manmade lake to the north of Newborough is an outdoor recreation hub for the area.

Lake Narracan is on the Latrobe River and was impounded in the late-1950s to provide cooling water for the power stations in the valley.

Because of the reservoir’s industrial purpose you’re allowed to use motorboats and jet-skis here, while fishing, sailing and windsurfing are also big here.

There are also powered and unpowered campsites on the wooded shore, and you can take a walk by the water or go for a dip at the designated swimming area by the caravan park on the southern shore.

Close by is Moe Golf Club, which enjoys lovely views of the water against the peaks in the north.

2. Old Gippstown

Source: Dorothy Chiron / shutterstock

In Moe you can visit an open-air museum documenting the European history of Gippsland, from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century.

Old Gippstown has more than 40 historical buildings transferred to three hectares of charming parkland.

These structures, including a school, general store, bank building, halfway house and homestead for explorer Angus McMillan, are crammed with absorbing artefacts and pieces of ephemera.

You can browse a huge collection of horsedrawn vehicles, as well as antique furniture, home appliances, art, tools, machinery, military artefacts from the world wars, documents and books.

Old Gippstown is also a venue for big events throughout the year, from Australia Day to Carols by Candlelight.

3. Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail

Source: Glen Pringle / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Newborough is bypassed just to the north by an 8.5-kilometre trail on the course of an industrial railway, built in the 50s to serve the Yallourn Power Station.

The line was shut down in the 1980s when briquette production was switched to Morwell.

Heading east, the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail departs Moe Botanic Gardens and grants you pleasing views of the local farmland.

There’s a sublime display of wildflowers in spring, and you can make a short diversion to Lake Narracan for a picnic.

East of the reservoir the giant cooling towers and chimneys of the Yallourn “W” Power Station hove into view.

4. Haunted Hills Hillclimb Track

Source: Daniel Gangur / shutterstock

Motorsport fans will be thrilled to know that possibly the best permanent hillclimb circuit in Australia is in Newborough’s backyard.

Also known as Bryant Park, this facility is impeccably maintained by the Gippsland Car Club, one of the only motoring organisations with its own track.

Whereas most hillclimb tracks are on public roads, Haunted Hills is sealed off and stages more than 40 weekends of racing each year.

The circuit comes with an up-to-date clubroom, several spectator areas and competitor garages, and hosted the Australian Hill Climb Championships in 2009, 2011 and 2016.

5. Moe Botanic Gardens

Source: Denise Tuck / Facebook

There’s hilly scenery covered with eucalypt forest just north of Lake Narracan, but if you’d like a more refined and sedate wander then Moe Botanic Gardens is ideal.

As we mentioned above, this is the western terminus for the rail trail, but is also a lovely place to pass an hour or two by the tranquil Narracan Creek.

There’s some pretty landscaping and a medley of native and exotic trees, interrupted by well-kept lawns.

The weekly 5km Newborough Parkrun takes place here at 08:00 on Saturdays.

The new, interactive playground was set up by the Moe Rotary Club and comes with a flying fox, nest swing and sand pit.

6. Ollerton Avenue Bushland Reserve

Source: Morwell Noticeboard / Facebook

This ten-hectare tract of quiet bushland lies near the middle of Newborough and is surrounded by residential neighbourhoods.

The biome at the Ollerton Avenue Bushland Reserve is plains grassy forest, supporting more than 120 native flora species, among them a variety of eucalypts like stringybark and peppermint.

There are wide and accessible trails through the reserve, and if you take your time you’ll become aware of the vibrant birdlife in the reserve.

For parents with young children in tow there’s a small playground right at the western entrance on Dudley Court.

7. Latrobe Regional Gallery (LRG)

Source: guruXOX / shutterstock

The regional art gallery for the whole of Latrobe City is a mere ten minutes away in Morwell.

Founded in 1971, this is a sizeable public gallery with seven exhibition spaces.

Over half a century the LRG has built up some nationally important collections for Australian art from all periods, art relating to Gippsland, works on paper, Asian art, sculpture and Australian glass art.

Selections from this inventory can be seen in exhibitions all year, along with significant touring shows and temporary exhibitions for established and rising artists from the Latrobe City region.

The gallery shop is also first-rate, stocking locally crafted ceramics, jewellery and more, while the “So Swish” cafe is open seven days.

8. Tyers Park

Source: Maridav / shutterstock

North of Newborough you’ll depart the Latrobe Valley and enter the foothills of the epic Great Dividing Range, spanning much of eastern Australia.

Within a short drive of Newborough the mountainous forest is protected by a string of parks and reserves.

One of these is the 1,810-hectare Tyers Park, a bushwalking paradise for its rocky scenery and profusion of wildflowers in springtime.

An important natural feature is the Tyers Gorge, where the namesake river has sliced deep through the rock.

There are striking outcrops of conglomerate and limestone to admire all around, and the limestone is known to yield plant and animal fossils.

9. Peterson’s Lookout

Source: Lake Glenmaggie Community / Facebook

For an easy but very rewarding walk in Tyers Park, head to the east side of the river via the Tyer-Walhalla Road.

From there you can access the W2 Track, approximately two kilometres long and leading from a long-abandoned timber mill site to a high vantage point on the above the river and gorge.

From Peterson’s Lookout you’ll also be able to look north, right along the gorge, and south over the Latrobe Valley’s distant industry.

Keep one eye out for the peregrine falcons that nest close to the lookout platform, while the bush is embroidered with wildflowers for much of the year, but especially in spring.

10. Moondarra State Park

Source: Kathie Nichols / shutterstock

North-west of Tyers Park is the even larger Moondarra State Park, encompassing almost 7,000 hectares of mostly eucalypt forest.

Like many of the other protected spaces on the north side of the Latrobe Valley, this is a wonderland for wildflowers in spring.

For a truly memorable walk you can take the Moe-Walhalla Road to get onto the Seninis Track, no more than 20 minutes north of Newborough.

An amazing 16 different species of native orchids have been recorded along this trail.

At all other times the park is a big draw for hiking and camping, out in the wilderness but minutes from the towns in the valley.

11. Wirilda Environment Park

Source: Nicole Patience / shutterstock

A kind of gateway to the rugged scenery on the north side of the Latrobe Valley, the Wirilda Environment Park is a private space open to the public.

This is 100 hectares of former farmland open 365 days a year and furnished with facilities like electric barbecues, a pavilion, walking tracks and bird watching hides.

The park’s website has a helpful guide for the many bird species residing in the bush, from cuckoos and cockatoos to the laughing kookaburra, white-faced heron and superb lyrebird.

If you’re feeling fit then the park can also be the departure point for a tough but fulfilling hike up through the Tyers Gorge to the Moondarra Dam.

12. Trafalgar Holden Museum

Source: Chris Boots Lee / shutterstock

Ten minutes west you can pay tribute to an icon of Australian motoring at a private museum founded on the collection of one enthusiast.

Nineteen of Neil Joiner’s Holdens are on display at the Trafalgar Holden Museum, among them three models from the 1960s (HD Premier, HK, EJ) with barely any miles on the clock.

There’s also a wealth of Holden memorabilia, as well as fun interactive displays and a theatrette, all recounting the story of the Holden brand going back to the mid-19th century as a saddlery.

The museum opened in 2014, at a spacious former Butter Factory constructed in the 1930s.

13. Morwell Centenary Rose Garden

Source: f.ield of vision / shutterstock

Keen gardeners come from far and wide to savour the more than 4,000 rose bushes from 400 varieties growing at this award-winning, free-to-visit garden.

To name a small few of the varieties, you’ll find rugosas, floribunda, tea roses and hybrid teas.

The Morwell Centenary Rose Garden is lovingly tended, with features like pergolas, a central gazebo and decorative climbing frames wreathed with blooms, while the delicate scent of its thousands of blooms will hit you before you even set foot inside.

There are roses from all over the world to admire, with Australian and New Zealand-created varieties towards the south side of the garden, and old world varieties growing to the north in an exquisite cottage garden.

14. Latrobe Leisure Moe Outdoor Pool

Source: Benoit Daoust / shutterstock

A godsend for families on hot summer days, the public outdoor pool in Moe is open from the end of November to the start of March.

Partially under shade sails, the complex is anchored by a 50m, eight-lane training pool, but also has a diving pool, a shallow pool for kids, with beach entry, as well as an interactive water play area.

The attraction has been renovated in the last few year and is complemented by grassy spaces and BBQs so you could easily spend a whole day.

15. Yallourn Golf Club

Source: Kati Finell / shutterstock

Actually in Newborough, Yallourn Golf Club has an 18-hole championship course in pristine bushland.

Before you tee off you can hit the full driving range and the short game area to get back into your stride.

The course’s main competition day is Saturday, so if you want to get a casual round in as a visitor you’ll need to tee off after 13:30. The clubhouse was reconstructed in the 2000s and offers full equipment and cart hire, as well as the Spike Bar, where you can pay green fees.

As of spring 2020 these were $20 for nine holes and $30 for eighteen.

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This brings real contrast to the surrounding countryside, where cooling towers and open cut coal mines soon give way to pastoral dairy farms and tracts of remnant bushland.

Museums and attractions around Moe recall the early days of European settlement and the importance of immigration to Gippsland, while old industrial railways have become rail trails for light walks in the bush.

The southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range are just north of Moe, and you can travel up to the Gold Rush town of Walhalla, once among the richest places in Australia and now a ghost town.

1. Old Gippstown – Gippsland’s Heritage Park

Source: Dorothy Chiron / shutterstock

Moe’s big draw is a much-loved outdoor museum charting Gippsland’s European settlement.

More than forty heritage buildings stand at this charming three-hectare site, all dating from the middle of the 19th century to the start of the 20th century.

These have been relocated to Moe from across the region, and some standouts are Moe’s Holy Trinity Anglican Church (1889), a working waterwheel from Buxton, Sunny Creek School (1920s), Meeniyan National Bank (1899) and the Narracan General Store (1889).

To go with these structures are some great collections, like Australia’s largest publicly owned fleet of horse-drawn carriages, as well as antique furniture, books, documents, tools, militaria, machinery and many pieces of obscure ephemera bringing the past to life.

2. Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail

Source: Glen Pringle / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Heading east from Bennett Street in the heart of Moe is an eight-kilometre trail on the route of a former railway line.

Dating to the 1950s, this branch joined the mainline at Moe and served the Yallourn Power Station, its open cut mine and a briquette factory.

The line shut down in the 1980s and is now laid with gravel for a gentle walk into the countryside.

Along the way you’ll go through Moe Botanic Gardens and peaceful creek flats, and will have views of the Haunted Hills and Lake Narracan.

On a hot day you can take a detour to the lake for a swim, while in the east stand the imposing cooling towers and stacks of the Yallourn Power Station.

3. Edward Hunter Heritage Bush Reserve

Source: Zahner Photography / shutterstock

Something special about Moe is that right in the town is a big tract of remnant vegetation, one of the last of its kind to be found in the Latrobe Valley.

So a couple of minutes south of the CBD you can amble into native eucalyptus forest, along a fern-lined creek and over a wetland area crossed by boardwalks.

You can pause to observe the wildlife at viewing platforms, and there are helpful maps and information boards detailing the reserve’s plant and animal species.

Orchids can be seen all year round, while in spring there’s a profusion of wildflowers.

The terrain is moderately hilly, and you’ll have lots of opportunities to explore by taking the little trails that branch off the main track.

4. Narracan Falls

Source: Damian Rutherford / Facebook

Narracan Creek rises around 20 kilometres south-west of Moe, meandering through the undulating farmland to the Latrobe River, just north of the town.

For a worthwhile excursion you can make the 15-minute trip south of Moe to this small but picture-perfect waterfall on the creek.

Standing about five metres tall, Narracan Falls rests among mature trees and fields specked with sheep and cows.

There’s a short, 50-metre trail from the car park and you can pack a picnic to spend a little more time in this idyllic place.

5. Lake Narracan

Source: BrianBeahr at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia | Public domain

Moe’s northern boundary is formed by a reservoir on the Latrobe River, completed in the early-1960s to supply cooling water to local power stations.

And because Lake Narracan doesn’t supply domestic water, it’s a honeypot for all manner of outdoor activities, especially in summer.

Motorised water sports like jet-skiing, powerboating and water-skiing are permitted here, as well as sailing, kayaking and paddleboarding.

There’s a campground on the southern shore, and next door to this is Moe Golf Club, which has several holes overlooking the water.

Fronting the caravan park is the lake’s swimming area, which has a small sandy beach and a jetty, with a grassy hill behind where you can rest under the gum trees.

6. Moe Botanical Gardens

Source: Denise Tuck / Facebook

This endearing local park is on the east side of the CBD, and connects to the Moe-Yallourn Rail Trail.

There you’ll find a mix of native and exotic trees, verdant lawns, Narracan Creek and snaking paths, all complemented by picnic tables, a barbecue shelter and toilets.

But what makes the gardens essential for families is the fantastic railway-themed playground.

This comes with a nest swing, flying fox, a water play area on the creek bed, a sand pit and a locomotive to climb on.

7. Apex Park

Source: Audy39 / shutterstock

For generations Moe residents have brought their children to this park by the town’s racecourse.

Apex Park has pretty much all you could want for a relaxing hour or two, and is also a venue for public outdoor events like the Moe Community Carnival and Fireworks Display.

There are tall, mature trees, a grassy space for ballgames, electric BBQs, a dog run, ample seating, toilets and a shelter.

For kids there’s a sprawling, all abilities playground complete with a liberty swing, as well as a nature play space beside it with a treehouse and wooden carvings of animals.

8. Morwell Centenary Rose Garden

Source: f.ield of vision / shutterstock

A rose garden of international quality is on hand moments away in Morwell.

Growing in these two hectares are more than 3,500 roses, from both new hybrids and traditional classics, arranged in carefully tended beds traced by paving bricks.

There are climbing roses for splendid walls of colour and scent, while meandering paths wend their way though beds of rugosa, Austin, Delbard, floribunda and hybrid tea roses.

On the garden’s south side you can check out rose varieties developed in Australia and New Zealand, while on show in a cute cottage garden to the north are old and species roses.

9. Trafalgar Holden Museum

Source: Chris Boots Lee / shutterstock

Ten minutes away in Trafalgar, an old butter factory from the 1930s has been turned into a shrine for the iconic Australian car marque, Holden.

This is all the work of one enthusiast, Neil Joiner, who has built up a sizeable collection spanning the history of Holden as a carmaker.

Among the stars of the show are a 1963 EJ Holden, a 1965 Holden HD Premier and a 1967 Holden HK, none with more than 21,000km on the clock.

Accompanying these models are all kinds of accessories, as well as details about the story of the brand, going back to its early days as a saddler in the mid-19th century.

10. Latrobe Regional Gallery

Source: guruXOX / shutterstock

Morwell is also the location for one of the largest public galleries in eastern Victoria.

This has seven exhibition spaces, hosting a dynamic program of shows with works from a range of media by regional and national touring artists.

The Latrobe Regional Gallery also possesses a superb collection of its own, running to 1,400+ pieces and comprising Australian fine art from all periods, Australian sculpture (displayed at the sculpture garden), Asian art, works in glass and art tied to the history of the Gippsland region.

The gallery also puts on regular tours, talks, children’s activities and workshops, has an excellent cafe and a gift shop filled with interesting pieces by Gippsland arts and crafters.

11. Moe Outdoor Pool

Source: Benoit Daoust / shutterstock

For families, summers in Moe are made a lot more comfortable by this public outdoor pool open from the end of November to the start of March.

This facility has been renovated in the last few years and has an eight-lane 50m pool for exercise, as well as a shallow pool with beach entry for fun and relaxation.

In addition to these there’s a diving pool and an interactive water play area for children.

The whole space is bordered by generous grassy areas with lots of shade, and there’s an electric BBQ and a kiosk for when you get peckish.

12. Gippsland Immigration Park

You can find out about the central role of immigration in the development of Gippsland at this pretty spot next to Morwell Lake.

Encircling the shore and guiding you past the handsome Kernot Hall, the Gippsland Heritage Walk has 72 information boards, tackling the region’s past from several angles including Aboriginal Gunaikurnai history.

The park’s showpiece is the Immigration Wall of Recognition, where granite walls pay tribute to the achievements of local immigrant families.

These panels encircle an inspiring statue representing a newly arrived migrant, bag in hand and shielding his eyes from the Australian sun.

13. Tyers Junction Rail Track

Source: sportpoint / shutterstock

The old Tyers Valley Tramway was a narrow gauge line built to transport timber from the slopes of Mount Baw Baw in the 1920s.

The line closed in 1949, but you can hike along the old route up the Tyers Valley.

The trailhead is right on the Moe-Walhalla Road, and this rough dirt track weaves up the valley on a smooth gradient for 11 kilometres.

On a little adventure you’ll pass through fern-bedded valleys, rainforest and cross little creeks.

14. Walhalla

Source: Nils Versemann / shutterstock

Visiting Moe you’ll be in a convenient spot to venture into the southern end of Great Dividing Range.

And close by, in the tight and wooded Stringers Creek valley is the Gold Rush town of Walhalla.

In the second half of the 19th century this became one of the richest places in Australia, but the gold supply flat-lined, and at the last census there were just 20 people living here permanently.

Walhalla thrives now as a tourist destination, where you can relive the Gold Rush days amid beautiful upland scenery that takes on glorious colours in autumn.

There’s a heritage walk around town with more than 30 interpretive signs, and you can view the original gold workings at the Long Tunnel Extended Mine.

Not to be missed is the Walhalla Goldfields Railway, criss-crossing Stringers Creek gorge on via epic trestle bridges, on a line that once ran all the way from Moe to Walhalla.

15. Traralgon Farmers’ Market

Source: Edison dennis / shutterstock

If you happen to be around Latrobe City on the fourth Saturday of the month you could make the short journey east for this award-winning market.

Organised by the local Lions Club and based in the lovely Kay Street, the farmers’ market gives you the chance to buy fruit, vegetables, plants, herbs, cheese, eggs, meat, jams , bread, olive oil, tea, pastries, condiments and much more, direct from the grower or producer.

There will be live music while you shop, as well as activities for children like face-painting.

Be sure to bring an appetite for some of the enticing food and drink made on site, from pies to Chinese street food.

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Fitting for its age, Portland has a lot of solemn bluestone architecture, and you can get around town on an old-timey cable tram.

Portland’s coastline is at the heart of the city’s appeal, with some of Victoria‘s highest coastal cliffs, wild beaches and waters harbouring stunning marine wildlife.

Blue whales and southern right whales visit the ocean Portland’s shore, and mainland Australia’s only gannet colony is just a few minutes from the city.

1. Portland Cable Trams

Source: Greg Brave / shutterstock

Many of the spots on this list are linked by a cable tram network that is not quite as old as it looks.

The 3.7-kilometre line, running from Henty Park to the World War II Memorial Lookout, is a tourism initiative but also caters to the rail heritage enthusiasts who run the line as volunteers.

The network was begun in 1996 and opened in 2002, using restored or replica tram cars that are powered by diesel engines.

You can use the service to hope from one attraction to the next, and admire the ocean views as the trams trundle along Portland’s high foreshore.

2. Portland Powerhouse Motor and Car Museum

Source: Neal McRae / Facebook

This transport museum is housed in Portland’s 1930s powerhouse, with its own stop on the tram route.

With numerous rarities, the Powerhouse Motor and Car Museum stands out for its array of veteran, vintage and classic cars by marques like Dodge, Riley, Austin, Pontiac, Ford and Studebaker.

Some of the models that you may not have seen before include a dinky 1960 Messerschmitt KR200, a 1919 Overland Roadster Model 4 and a 1927 Essex.

The collection also runs to tractors, a penny farthing, a cable tram from the 1920s and stationary engines, while motor memorabilia, from vintage signs to petrol pumps, adorns every inch of the building.

3. Portland Botanical Gardens

Source: caseyjadew / shutterstock

Portland boasts of the oldest botanical gardens in Australia, and the second-oldest in Victoria.

On a plot bounded by Salt Creek, the garden was designed in the 1850s by William Allitt and has held onto its original layout.

As was the case 170 years ago, the garden shows off the impressive diversity of species that can be grown in south-west Victoria’s temperate climate.

You can admire wonderful specimens of cabbage palm, Rhus Viminalis and Caracus wigandia, as well 180 varieties of dahlias (blooming from February to late-April) , over 300 rose varieties and a colourful display of annuals.

In this refined environment it’s no shock to find a croquet lawn and lawn tennis courts, to go with facilities like public toilets, BBQs and picnic tables.

4. Cape Nelson Lighthouse

Source: Greg Brave / shutterstock

Standing ten metres tall, the lighthouse among the heathland atop rugged Cape Nelson was completed in 1884. At that time a project of this size was a big undertaking, and the material for the project had to be carted via Portland from a quarry 11 kilometres away.

The lantern has been powered by electricity since the 1930s and the last lighthouse keeper moved out in the 1990s.

Today the keeper’s quarters are rented out as holiday accommodation, and the entire compound is protected by a rubble wall, 1.75 metres high, to keep the fierce winds at bay.

Enquire at the Portland Visitor Information Centre about the twice-daily tours, while there’s a little cafe on site open for breakfast and lunch.

5. Cape Nelson State Park

Source: Nils Versemann / shutterstock

Allow a while to wander the 243-hectare state park encompassing the craggy coastline and a large parcel of the cape’s interior.

The main habitats at the state park are heath, wet heath and soap mallee, home to animals like echidnas and red-necked wallabies.

Apart from Cape Nelson Lighthouse the park’s highlight is a three-kilometre walk along the cliff-tops for enthralling ocean views.

As we’ll see, southern right whales and blue whales are often spotted in winter and summer from the cliffs.

6. Portland Maritime Discovery Centre

Source: Kim Britten / shutterstock

As the site of Victoria’s first commercial port and a former hub for the whaling industry, Portland has a special connection to the sea.

To celebrate this heritage, the city’s visitor information centre was merged with a maritime museum in 1998. So after calling in for leaflets, local products and travel advice you can browse the displays.

Look out for the 14-metre skeleton of a sperm whale, artefacts from Portland’s whaling and sealing days and a compelling exhibit about the sinking of the SS Admella in 1859, remembered as one of the country’s worst maritime disasters.

The museum’s showpiece is a lifeboat from 1858, among the oldest wooden vessels in Australia and integral to the rescue of survivors of the Admella wreck.

7. Great South West Walk

Source: Salahuddin Ahmad / shutterstock

The Portland Maritime Discovery Centre is at the beginning and end of a 250-kilometre walking trail presenting the spellbinding beauty of Victoria’s south-west coast.

The route covers several of the spots on this list, as well as immense cliffs, vast sandy bays, ancient lakes, protected coastal forest and the majestic limestone gorge of the Glenelg River.

On its looping course the Great West Walk passes through three national parks, as well as the Discovery Bay Coastal Park and the Cape Nelson State Park.

If you’d prefer to walk one of the 15 sections (each furnished with a campsite), you’ll never have to drive far to reach a trackhead.

On your hike you may see koalas, kangaroos, a variety of seabirds, as well as whales, depending on the season.

8. Whale Watching

Source: Powerhouse Productions / shutterstock

If the whale flag is at full mast outside the Maritime Discovery Centre it means there are whales in the city’s waters.

The southern right whale migrates north from Antarctica to this latitude each year between May and October to mate and calve.

This species is identified by the white bumps on the top and sides of its head.

Then in summer, one of Australia’s great natural wonders occurs, when the Bonney Upwelling brings a profusion of krill to the coast off Portland.

This in turn attracts the largest animal to have ever existed, the blue whale, to within a short distance of the coast.

Some 100 blue whales make the trip every year, from November to May, and can be sighted from a host of vantage points, but especially the elevated Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewater.

9. Walk Portland’s Pride

Source: mertie. / Flickr | CC BY

At Victoria’s oldest European settlement it should come as no shock that there’s a lot of heritage buildings in Portland.

Check out the Glenelg Shire website or head to the Visitor Information Centre and you can get hold of a leaflet for a walking tour to see the main landmarks.

The route leads you past numerous bluestone buildings going deep into the 19th century.

You’ll see the Court House (1845), still fulfilling its original role, Mac’s Hotel (1856), the Old Post Office (1883), the Town Hall (1863), containing a small social history display, and the Steam Packet Inn, built in 1842 from Tasmanian timber.

10. Nuns Beach

Source: katacarix / shutterstock

Bordered by the harbour’s Lee Breakwater is a 300-metre sandy beach, facing east and shelving gently into Portland Bay.

With low surf, Nuns Beach is a good place to test the waters for a paddle or swim.

Behind the beach are high cliffs, giving you a satisfying vantage point for the harbour and its giant bulk carriers.

The city has set up a walking trail from the Lee Breakwater, taking you along the beach and up the winding steps to come back along the cliff top.

Up here take a look at Whalers Point to see the lighthouse, built in 1859 and moved stone-by-stone to this point in 1889.

11. Point Danger Gannet Colony

Source: Powerhouse Productions / shutterstock

The only gannet colony on Australia’s mainland inhabits this headland, no more than six kilometres south of Portland.

These Australasian gannets have been here since the mid-90s, and efforts have been made to keep the colony intact, by limiting human access and by keeping Maremma sheepdogs to ward off predators like foxes and feral cats.

There’s a designated viewing platform accompanied by interpretive information, and you can get in touch with an expert volunteer via the Portland Visitor Information Centre.

This colony of around 300 pairs is an overflow for the larger colony of some 6,000 pairs just offshore on Lawrence Rocks.

With any luck you’ll get to see these seabirds dive-bombing for pilchards, reaching speeds of 100km/h, while they nest and raise their young from July to April.

12. World War II Memorial Lookout

Source: Bruce Colyer / Facebook

Up from Nuns Beach is a former water tower repurposed as a lookout in the 1990s.

The 25-metre structure dates back to the 1930s and was raised to provide an abundant supply of safe water for a growing town.

The tower was obsolete by the 1980s and had become an eyesore until it was revitalised in the mid-1990s in honour of Portland residents who served in World War II.

There’s a well-researched museum on the first floor, full of info, photographs and memorabilia.

Carry on up to the observation platform and you can see Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewater to the south, and the peaks of Mount Napier, Mount Richmond and more inland.

13. Cable Tram Museum and Depot

Source: Portland Cable Trams / Facebook

A fine way to begin or end your tram journey around Portland is the depot in Henty Park.

This attraction is a real miscellany, but loosely concentrating on transport.

For instance there’s a display of meticulously designed model railways, and a horse drawn carriage dating back to 1880, belonging to the pioneer Edward Henty.

Also on show is a line-up of classic cars, all polished to a shine, as well as what is billed as the largest private collection of gemstones in the Southern Hemisphere.

You can pause for a hot drink and peruse the gift shop for something special to take home.

14. Cape Bridgewater

Source: alfotokunst / shutterstock

Keep going past Cape Nelson and opening up before you will be at the magnificent and windswept Bridgewater Bay.

This four kilometre beach is hemmed by steep slopes, and has picnic areas, a beachside cafe and the surf lifesaving club patrolling on weekends and holidays from December to Easter.

Seals and dolphins are regular visitors to the beach, and southern right whales show up close to the shore in winter.

Cape Bridgewater, once part of the rim of a volcano, rises to 130 metres at the far end and has the tallest cliffs on the Victoria coast.

Waiting a little further north is the Petrified Forest, trunk-like formations which are actually limestone “solution pipes” hollowed out by millions of years of rainfall.

15. Portland Strawberries

Source: TonyNg / shutterstock

This family farm has been in the strawberry business for more than 20 years, and specialises in mouth-watering strawberries bursting with flavour.

Portland Strawberries grows fruit all year round, whether open-air during Daylight Savings Time, or in the hothouse during the off season.

No aspect of growing or harvesting is left to chance, from soil preparation to the use of natural fertiliser.

Something special about this business is that almost all of its sales happen at the Farm Gate Shop, which gives you an idea of its high reputation.

The shop has fresh strawberries all year, as well as farm-made strawberry jam, lollies, strawberry ice cream, strawberry chocolates and a strawberry liqueur.

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The beaches are some of the best in Australia, with flawless sand so white it looks like snow.

Esperance’s sheltered bays are bathed by transparent waters that glow from the pristine sand underneath.

Along the coast in both directions are rounded cliffs, dunes, headlands and granite peaks, while the granite humps of the Recherche Island rise offshore.

Spreading out over Esperance’s interior is some of Australia’s most productive arable land, harvesting grain exported from the harbour via massive bulk carriers.

1. Cape Le Grand National Park

Source: Adwo / shutterstock

On Esperance’s east flank is more than 30,000 hectares of white sandy beaches, wild heathland and stirring granite topography.

Several of the items in this list are within Cape Le Grand National Park’s boundaries, and you can pick up trails to climb those granite peaks or follow one of the world’s most beautiful coastlines along the Le Grand Coastal Trail.

Much of the terrain is under a blanket of heathland, inhabited by pygmy possums and grey kangaroos that will often hop down to the beaches.

Spend the night at campgrounds at Lucky Bay and Le Grand Beach, equipped with picnic tables, barbecues, running water and toilets.

2. Lucky Bay

Source: LIBIN THOMAS OLAPRATH / shutterstock

While surveying the Southern Coast in 1802, explorer and cartographer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), moored HMS Investigator in this bay to shelter from a storm.

He later named it Lucky Bay, and the ship’s botanist Robert Brown came ashore here, discovering a catalogue of species new to science at the time.

As it was in Flinders’ day, Lucky Bay is sheltered, and has the snow white sands and crystalline waters that Esperance is famous for.

There’s great fishing, snorkelling and surfing, while humpback and southern right whales swim close by in winter.

If you visit late in the day, don’t be surprised to be sharing the sunset with the local mob of kangaroos.

3. Twilight Bay

Source: Adwo / shutterstock

The pick for family beach trips in Esperance has to be Twilight Bay, touted among the best beaches in the country.

All of the hallmarks of Esperance’s coastline are here, from the brilliant white sand to the clear, light blue waters and the low, heath-covered cliffs.

But what really elevates Twilight Bay are the granite reefs and outcrops on the west end, causing a kind of natural water park with calm, transparent waters and rocks for children to scramble over and jump off.

It’s a perfect environment for swimming, paddleboarding and snorkelling, while the more boisterous waves on the east side are surfable.

Twilight Bay is patrolled on summer weekends, and has shower and bathroom facilities.

4. Esperance Museum

Source: Wirestock Creators / shutterstock

This museum delving has a super setting, in an atmospheric old goods shed at Esperance’s former railway marshalling yards.

Below these old beams you can investigate different strands from Esperance’s past, like the town’s French connection, the sinking of the Sanko Harvest bulk carrier in 1991, Esperance’s pioneers and the coming of the railway in the 1920s.

Some of the highlights are a piano from the 1820s, a lifeboat from the Sanko Harvest and the restored locomotive W919. The museum also boasts the world’s most detailed display on NASA’s Skylab space station, launched in 1973 and falling back to earth not far outside Esperance in 1979. The Shire of Esperance even charged NASA a $400 fine for littering!

5. Great Ocean Drive

Source: Travelpixs / shutterstock

You may gather that the Goldfields-Esperance Region has loads of amazing coastal scenery.

So much in fact that there’s a 40km driving trail to help you see the best of it.

The Great Ocean Drive starts out in Esperance and goes west along the Twilight Beach Road, along cliff-tops, past granite outcrops and next to some of the world’s most beautiful beaches.

Take the road between May and December and you can pause at lookouts to catch sight of humpback or southern right whales.

There are 23 recommended stops on the Great Ocean Drive, from hidden coves to windswept beaches and giant windfarms harnessing the ocean breezes.

6. Middle Island & Pink Lake Hillier Scenic Flight

Source: matteo_it / shutterstock

This 90-minute flight is available through the online tour platform GetYourGuide.com and will give you a sparkling picture of Esperance and the immense beauty that lies just offshore.

Taking off from Esperance Airport, the flight is bound for the Recherche Archipelago, but on the way you can cast your eyes over the scrolling farmland in the town’s backcountry and the pure white beaches on the coast.

As you approach Middle Island, you’ll be captivated by the otherworldly pinkish tint of Lake Hillier on its north-east corner.

This permanent hue is caused by a type of green micro-algae common in saline lakes.

7. Woody Island

Source: Leanne Irwin / shutterstock

You can take a leisured ferry ride out to Woody Island, 15 kilometres off Esperance in the Recherche Archipelago.

Listed as a nature reserve and covering 2.4 square kilometres, it’s the only island in the group that can be accessed by visitors.

On the crossing you’ll have the chance to spot marine life like dolphins, seals, sea lions and white-bellied sea eagles.

Woody Island Eco Tours built a visitor centre here 20 years ago and can arrange all sorts of activities like snorkelling in sheltered and nature-rich waters, fishing from the jetty and guided nature walks.

You could also just bask in the island’s tranquillity and grab a bite from the kiosk, or something cold from Black Jacks Bar.

8. Frenchman Peak

Source: Marko Bowman / shutterstock

Part of a chain of prominent granite formations in the south-west of Cape Le Grand National Park, Frenchman Peak presents a tough but very satisfying challenge for walkers.

The name describes the peak’s resemblance to the hats worn by French soldiers in the 19th century and rises 262 metres above the park for distant panoramas.

The route to the summit up the east side is a stiff three-kilometre return, requiring about two hours.

Near the top is a system of tunnels and caves, carved out by wave action around 40 million years ago when sea levels were around 300 metres higher than present.

Avoid Frenchman Peak in wet weather as the steep slopes become slippery.

9. West Beach

Source: Nicola Robb / shutterstock

If you can’t get enough of Esperance’s crisp white sandy beaches, the south-facing West Beach is on the Twilight Beach Road, just below the Rotary Lookout.

The Southern Ocean pummels South Beach, giving it a wild splendour that is amplified by the granite cliffs, headlands and the islands of the Recherche Archipelago offshore.

The deceptively large swells are a hit with surfers, but bathers are better off in the shallow area created by a long sandbar, as the rip tides are strong.

And as you’d expect, the sunrises and sunsets are sublime here set off by those tall headlands flanking the beach.

10. Observatory Point

Source: ian woolcock / shutterstock

A fantastic place to stretch your legs on the Great Ocean Drive, Observatory Point is a wave-battered promontory capped with a lookout platform.

Climb the stairway for a panorama that you’ll want to linger over for as long as possible.

Laid out below you is the mesmerising blue tone of the Southern Ocean, the dark green vegetation of the cliffs and solemn granite formations strong against the waves.

Dotting the horizon are the islands of the Recherche Archipelago, the closest of which is Observatory Island separated from Observatory Point by a narrow strait.

11. Rotary Lookout

Source: alybaba / shutterstock

The summit of the bulky granite outcrop, Wireless Hill is the highest point for several miles and gives you phenomenal views of the ocean, the Recherche Archipelago, Esperance’s sandy beaches and the town itself.

A circular walking trail wends its way through the brush, taking you to another vantage point on the west side where you can look right along West Beach.

There’s an orientation table on the platform to help you get your bearings, and you can take some time to watch the bulk carriers manoeuvring in and out of port, just to the north.

12. Lucky Bay Brewing

Source: Lucky Bay Brewing / Facebook

A lot of the expansive farmland in Esperance’s hinterland is given over to barley, almost all of which is exported to make malt for beer.

Lucky Bay Brewing sources this high-quality barley directly from local farmers, and has developed a way to use 75% raw barely in its brews.

So you can be certain that you’ll be tasting something completely local here.

In the regular line-up when we wrote this list in 2020 was a Barley Pale Ale, a German-style Kölsch, a Blonde Ale, a Witbier, a Dark Ale, an IPA, a Farmhouse Ale and “Lockdown”, special Dark Ale developed during Covid-19. To find out more you can pre-book a tour of the brewery, or visit the taproom, open Thursday to Sunday and baking its own pizzas.

13. Esperance Stonehenge

Source: Adwo / shutterstock

The world’s only full-size replica of Stonehenge took shape in Esperance in the 2010s.

Built from the local pinkish granite instead of bluestone, the Esperance Stonehenge has been designed to reflect the layout of the original as it would have been around 1950 BCE.

The 137 hunks of granite used in its construction were all quarried less than a kilometre from this site and placed to align with the Solstices at this location.

So in the morning of the Summer Solstice (22 December) the rising sun shines through the Station Stones to the Altar Stone, and the same alignment occurs in the opposite direction at sunset on the Winter Solstice (21 June).

14. Wharton Beach

Source: Matt Deakin / shutterstock

For those willing to travel there’s another jaw-dropping beach on the east side of Cape Le Grand National Park, about an hour by road from Esperance.

If it were anywhere else in the world, Wharton Beach would attract visitors in their droves.

As it is, most of the traffic comes from Esperance locals, and with three kilometres of pristine white sand you’ll have acres of space to yourself.

That sand is super-fine, even by Esperance standards, to the point that it even squeaks underfoot.

The beach is set back from the open ocean in a scallop-shaped bay, which makes the water even clearer, with just enough swell for surfers.

If you don’t want to make the return trip so soon you can book a berth at the Duke of Orleans Bay Caravan Park, next door.

15. Esperance Visitor Centre

Source: TK Kurikawa / shutterstock

A useful first port of call, specially for first-timers, the Esperance Visitor Centre will ensure your trip goes as smoothly as possible.

You can book accommodation, transport and tours, and consult the well-informed staff for travel inspiration.

What’s more, the visitor centre is set in the Esperance Museum Village, preserving various historic buildings from the town’s past.

There’s a schoolhouse, a doctor’s surgery, courthouse to name a handful, all given a new purpose as shops and galleries.

The Museum Village also hosts a market for fresh produce and arts and crafts, held once a fortnight on Sunday mornings.

The post 15 Best Things to Do in Esperance (Australia) appeared first on The Crazy Tourist.

Coalmining and horse breeding are the traditional sources of income, but Muswellbrook has also won a lot of praise lately for its gourmet food and drink.

We have a number of producers to visit on this list for olive oil, artisan cheese and wine.

Back in town, Bridge Street is enriched with historic architecture from as early as the mid-19th century, and Muswellbrook also lays claim to the only church in Australia designed by famed English architect Sir Gilbert Scott.

1. Pukara Estate

Source: Alf Manciagli / shutterstock

As you travel the Denman Road just out of Muswellbrook, the immense olive grove of the Pukara Estate will hove into view.

This is the headquarters for one of Australia’s most celebrated specialty food brands, producing world-class olive oil as well as a selection of vinegars, gourmet olives, tapenades, mayonnaise, jams, relishes, pesto and dukkahs.

The entire range is available to try at the Denman Tasting Room, where you can also pick up firsthand information about the grove and what goes into top-notch olive oil and vinegar.

You can browse for classy homewares at the gift shop, and treat yourself to coffee and cake in the peaceful surrounds of the olive grove.

2. Hunter Belle Cheese

Source: Hunter Belle Cheese Cafe / Facebook

This acclaimed cheesemaker and dairy brand is based just out of town on the New England Highway and started inviting the public onto its premises a decade ago.

With a herd of Swiss Brown cows, Hunter Belle makes high-quality cheeses like cheddar, feta, camembert, as well as Swiss and blue cheese.

This range, along with Hunter Belle’s milk, yoghurt and butter, enhances the menu at the Hunter Belle Cafe, standing out for sweet treats like fudge, ice cream and milkshakes.

You can also just visit for a tasting at the shop and get a privileged glimpse of the factory through viewing windows into the cheese-making room, maturation room and packing room.

A detailed mural meanwhile explains every step in making cheese, from pasture to plate.

And the quirky star of the show is Bessie, a life-sized fibreglass cow model that can be milked.

3. Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre

Source: guruXOX / shutterstock

The handsome School of Arts building, raised in 1871, now holds the public gallery for Muswellbrook and the wider shire.

The gallery was established in the 1970s, and draws on a formidable collection, assembled through an acquisitive art prize inaugurated in 1958. This gives the arts centre a true survey of mid to late-20th century Australian art, further enhanced by the Max Watters Collection, bequeathed in 2004. A handful of artists represented include Ken Whisson, John Perceval, Tony Tuckson and Grace Cossington-Smith.

There are up to three exhibitions at any one time, for local and touring exhibitions, while the biennial Muswellbrook Art Prize is awarded on even years.

4. Muswellbrook Heritage Walk

Source: Athol Mullen / Wikimedia | CC-BY-SA-3.0

You can drop by at the Muswellbrook Visitor Information Centre for a map of this enlightening 4.5-kilometre trail weaving its way through the CBD.

The walk starts from 208 Bridge Street, or the Railway Station on Market Street.

Muswellbrook has a number of heritage buildings constructed in the middle of the 19th century, the majority lining the arterial Bridge Street.

You’ll see grand civic buildings, palatial residences, hotels and amenities like the post office (1861 and 1885) and the railway station (1869). At 180-188 Bridge Street is the Eatons Group, a stately complex made up of a hotel, shop, residence and retail centre, and with a history that can be traced back to 1839.

5. St Alban’s Anglican Church

Source: Annette Teng / Wikimedia | CC BY 3.0

Sir Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who designed and restored churches up and down the United Kingdom in the 19th century, provided the design for this heritage-listed church on Hunter Terrace.

In Scott’s classic Gothic Revival style, St Alban’s is the only place of worship designed by Scott in Australia and was constructed between 1864 and 1869, then enlarged in 1890. The church has modest proportions, and is built from sandstone, with a copper-clad broach spire on the north side.

Call in to appreciate some of the fittings, like the Minton and Hollins tiles of Stoke-on-Trent, a reredos carved from limestone, an organ built in 1868 by J.W. Walker of London and a beautiful scissor-truss roof with original polychrome decoration.

6. Hunter Valley Camels

Source: Marc Witte / shutterstock

Take the Denman Road out of Muswellbrook and in a little while you’ll be at a dairy farm distinguished by its big herd of camels.

These animals have been saved from slaughter and are milked no more than once a day to ensure they have enough milk for their offspring.

The business opens its doors to the public for farm tours, so you can find out more about the herd and how they’re cared for.

There are camel milk products to sample and buy, from bath milk to pasteurised drinking milk or cosmetics such as lip balms.

You can also ride a saddled camel, crossing the extensive property and taking in the idyllic Upper Hunter Valley.

7. Two Rivers Wines

Source: Gustavo Frazao / shutterstock

One of the Hunter Valley’s top vineyards sits just a little way west of Muswellbrook.

Two Rivers has produced top-notch wine from classic grape varietals since 1988. The vineyard takes its name from its special location, resting between the Hunter and Goulburn Rivers.

In the range in 2020 were Chardonnays, a Pinot Grigio, Verdelhos, Semillons, Merlots, several Shiraz labels and “Confluence”, a Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend.

The cellar door, serving cheese and antipasti platters, has a verandah with dramatic views of the Upper Hunter Valley.

8. Highbrook Park

Source: Bok Isidro / Facebook

For a bit of family time, Muswellbrook’s main public park is on the town’s south-western margins.

We can’t talk about Highbrook Park without mentioning the giant lizard rearing up over the playground, 10 metres tall and 70 metres long, with an enclosed slide for a tongue! There’s all sorts of other equipment for little visitors, from climb ropes and mazes to a flying fox, swings and special track where they can learn to ride a bicycle.

To complement the play facilities, Highbrook Park has toilets, barbecues, water bubblers and picnic benches with undercover seating

9. Muswellbrook Cinema

Source: Liu zishan / shutterstock

This state-of-the-art cinema opened near the regional arts centre in the 2010s and screens all the latest releases.

As entertainment amenities go, Muswellbrook Cinema punches above its weight for a town of this size.

The sound and picture quality are as good as any multiplex, and there’s modern decor and plush, comfy seating with lots of legroom, as well as an enticing choice of snacks and candy in the foyer.

If you want to splash out you can also upgrade to the VIP Platinum seating.

10. Small Forest Wine

Source: Teri Virbickis / shutterstock

You can continue an Upper Hunter wine odyssey at this boutique winery, run by Atsuko Radcliffe, Japan’s first woman winemaker.

Found outside Denman and with lovely vistas of the town, Small Forest Wine focuses its efforts on just three varieties: A Chardonnay, a Verdelho and Shiraz (red and rosé). At the cellar door you’ll learn a little more about Atsuko’s winemaking philosophy, and between June and December you can book a Sake-tasting session with Atsuko, who is an international authority on this beverage.

Also at the cellar door is an art gallery, with exhibitions updated every couple of months.

11. Barrington Tops National Park

Source: Taras Vyshnya / shutterstock

This World Heritage-listed national park in the Hunter Valley is close enough to Muswellbrook be a genuine day trip option.

Barrington Tops National Park belongs to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, containing the world’s largest tracts of subtropical rainforest, massive sweeps of warm temperate rainforests and practically all of the world’s Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest.

Almost nowhere on earth are there as many plants and animals that vary so little from their prehistoric ancestors in fossil records.

This awesome landscape can be traversed on foot, by bike or in a 4WD, and among the species that have lived in near perfect isolation since the time of the Gondwana supercontinent are the common wombat, the swamp wallaby and the Australian brush turkey.

The park and Mount Royal National Park below were partly affected by the 2019-20 bushfires.

12. Mount Royal National Park

Source: Callan Lawrence / shutterstock

Like the Barrington Tops next door, this national park is in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia’s World Heritage area.

Again, many of the plant and animal species flourishing at Mount Royal have changed little from fossil records millions of years old.

The main foothold for your adventure in the park will be the Youngville Campground, the starting point for walking tracks and 4WD routes.

One achievable walk from here is the three-kilometre Pieries Peak track, taking you to a panoramic lookout over Lake Saint Clair and the Hunter Valley.

13. Lake Glenbawn State Park

Source: LizCoughlan / shutterstock

On the way to Barrington Tops and Mount Royal is one of the largest rock-filled dams in the country, measuring 100 metres high and more than 1.1 kilometres long.

The Glenbawn Dam is on the Hunter River and the impounded reservoir serves several purposes, among them irrigation, flood mitigation, water supply, wildlife conservation and is a source of hydroelectric power.

On top of all that it’s one of the region’s favourite recreation spots, with a wide choice of holiday accommodation on its shores, from villas to campsites.

Waking and cycling trails deliver you to spectacular lookouts, and some 100 different bird species have been recorded on these shores.

Lake Glenbawn is also an angler’s idea of heaven for its plentiful bass, catfish and golden perch.

14. Muswellbrook Aquatic & Fitness Centre

Source: Syda Productions / shutterstock

When we wrote this article in 2020 the town’s public aquatic and fitness centre was in the process of a big makeover.

In the plans was a refurbishment of the 50m outdoor pool, while the centre’s interior was being given a state-of-the-art overhaul, comprising a learner and therapy pool, a water activity park, a viewing deck, kiosk and dry play party room.

Also planned in this multimillion-dollar project was an upgrade of the centre’s fitness equipment.

15. Upper Hunter Show

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Two weeks before Easter the entire community comes together for a regional show mixing rural competitions with trade stands and tons of family entertainment.

For just a taster, there’s a rodeo, a whip-cracking contest, a wife-carrying event, tent pegging, coal scuttle races, polocrosse and competitions for poultry, cattle, horses and more.

For fun you’ve got live music, high-tech machinery displays, a petting zoo, fireworks, a demolition derby, tug-of-war, amusements on Sideshow Alley and all the pageantry of the Grand Parade.

Dozens of companies set up shop at the show, and there’s a healthy serving of food stands for Portuguese street food, nachos, pizza, pies, waffles, dumplings, Vietnamese bites, artisan coffee, the list goes on!

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As if you needed proof that agriculture is a way of life in Kingaroy there’s a trio of silos slap bang in the middle of town.

These hulking structures were put up in the middle of the 20th century to store the region’s main crop, peanuts.

Kingaroy has even been dubbed the “Peanut Capital of Australia”, and one humble peanut van in town sells hundreds of tonnes of peanuts each year.

The high elevation in South Burnett allows for cooler nights and less humidity, ideal for growing warm climate wines, and there’s a smattering of cellar doors just out of town.

1. Kingaroy Heritage Museum

Source: denisbin / Flickr | CC BY-ND

The cornerstone of a heritage, arts and culture precinct at the heart of Kingaroy is a museum shining a light on the town’s early days.

Appropriately the venue is Kingaroy’s former Power House, built in 1925 and operating until 1952. It’s no surprise that the peanut takes centre stage at the museum, as you’ll learn about the ingenuity and resourcefulness of local farmers, adapting and inventing their own threshers in the absence of dedicated peanut-farming machinery.

You can inspect these eccentric machines, as well as a catalogue of photographs, tools, household products, shop signs and appliances to glimpse an enthralling period from Kingaroy’s past.

2. The Peanut Van

Source: denisbin / Flickr | CC BY-ND

With an unassuming main location in front of a Holden dealership, The Peanut Van is a real Kingaroy success story, selling around 300 tonnes of peanuts a year.

The van has been here since 1969, and is even credited with helping to kick-start the tourism industry in South Burnett.

There’s no better place to taste the product that is at the backbone of the local economy.

On offer are more than 20 varieties of sweet and savoury peanuts, among them Kingaroy Kurry, Tangy Lime and Hickory Smoked.

The van also stocks various peanut products, like peanut paste, peanut oil or unshelled peanuts.

3. South Burnett Wine Region

Source: Milla Dukina / shutterstock

Queensland isn’t as well known for wine as NSW and Victoria, but the high altitude and fertile, pH-appropriate soils around Kingaroy create the right conditions for growing varieties like Verdelho, Merlot, Semillon, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

The first vineyards started cropping up in the 1990s, and South Burnett boasts the largest winery in the state, at Clovely Estate.

The region’s reds, like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, tend to be medium-bodied with subtly sweet berry flavours.

On this list we’ll mention a couple of wineries a stone’s throw from Kingaroy, but South Burnett is a delight to tour, with vineyards sprawling on the lush slopes.

4. Local Heritage

Source: Lakeview Images / shutterstock

The Kingaroy Information, Art and Heritage Precinct, preserves a cluster of lovely old buildings and is also home to the Regional Art Gallery, which we’ll mention later.

In this group is the timber-built Carroll Cottage, Kingaroy’s first edifice and completed in phases between 1900 and the 1930s.

The same family established the nearby Carrollee Hotel, which bears the date 1904 but had to be rebuilt in a Federation style after a fire in 1913. Of course, we have to talk about the peanut silos, looming over Haly Street and the CBD.

These three commanding structures were built between 1938 and 1951 by the Queensland Marketing Board, testament to a local industry that goes back to 1901.

5. Kilkivan to Kingaroy Rail Trail

Source: Kilkivan To Kingaroy Rail Trail / Facebook

The old Nanango Rail Line was a narrow-gauge railway, starting out as a branch line extending west from Theebine to Kilkivan after gold and copper were discovered in the area.

The line eventually made its way south, reaching Kingaroy in 1900. The Kingaroy to Theebine section was finally closed in 2011 and over the last decade the tracks have been removed and an 88-kilometre trail has been set up as far as Kilkivan.

The good news, if you’re setting out from Kingaroy, is that the route is sealed with bitumen for 44 kilometres, all the way to Murgon, after which there’s an unsealed track.

Directly outside Kingaroy you’ll be in picture-perfect wine country, and the next village or town is never far away.

For a bite-sized trip you could amble or cycle to Crawford (5.3km) or Memerambi (11.1km), and read the interpretive boards laying out the railway’s history.

6. Kingaroy Observatory

Source: Cavan-Images / shutterstock

South Burnett has low light pollution, and the night skies are significantly darker than 150 kilometres away on the Queensland coast.

Naturally this makes it an obvious spot for an observatory, and you can come by at night to gaze through the three Meade 14-inch telescopes.

Viewing sessions are arranged into two categories: Stars and Planets, to view star clusters, nebulas, the Milky Way and other galaxies, or Moon and Planet nights to see the Moon and the planets of the Solar System in startling detail.

If you’re here by day, the air-conditioned Star Theatre seats 70 and can show the surface of the Sun like you’ve never seen it before.

The best time to be at the observatory is autumn to spring when there’s less cloud cover.

7. Apex Park and Lookout

Source: Patricia White-van Kempen / Facebook

At this park in the town’s north-west you’ll be on the site of Kingaroy’s first public hospital.

The grounds were redeveloped in the 1960s, but the mature trees you see in Apex Park go back to the days of the hospital.

Just off Coral Street, which cuts the park in two from east to west, there’s a platform with a rewarding panorama of Kingaroy and its silos backdropped by the magnificent Bunya Mountains.

You’ll also be able to make out Coolabunia Hill, home of the late John and Florence Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland’s former premier and first lady.

Apex Park also has a playground for wee ones, while the grand old trees offer ample shade for picnics.

8. Mount Wooroolin Lookout

Source: DiamondIIIXX / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0

This summit four kilometres west of Kingaroy was turned into a reserve and lookout in 1988 to mark the Australian Bicentenary.

The reserve covers 65 acres, mostly under a cloak of dry vine forest and eucalypt woodland.

There’s a grassy space with picnic tables and barbecues, while the lookout on Mount Wooroolin’s peak can be climbed via an accessible ramp.

At the top you can enjoy views in all directions, with clear lines of sight to the Bunya Mountains and Tarong Power Station to the south, Coolabunia Hill to the south-east and the picturesque Gordonbrook Dam in the north-west.

Tarong Power Station provides one fifth of Queensland’s energy, while the Gordonbrook Dam is Kingaroy’s main source of water.

9. Kingaroy Regional Art Gallery

Source: guruXOX / shutterstock

In the shadow of those colossal silos on Haly Street, the Kingaroy Regional Art Gallery is set in the Art Deco Shire Council Chambers, built in 1938. It’s a delightful place if you want to take the pulse of the regional art scene, with a vibrant program of exhibitions, events and activities throughout the year.

There are three gallery spaces with displays in a wide range of media.

Make sure to take a peek inside Shop 38, a sales space for more than 40 talented artists and crafters from the region.

10. Crane Wines

Source: Africa Studio / shutterstock

This boutique winery is barely 10 minutes out of Kingaroy and housed in a gorgeous old colonial homestead.

Crane Wines is high in the Booie Range, which favours the vines with cool nightly temperatures, but also sublime views over the valley to the east.

You can spend the night in the beautiful homestead, as the end wing has been turned into a B&B, with the best vistas over the valley from the verandah.

Crane Wines makes sweet, dry, sparkling and fortified wines, and you can sample them all at the rustic cellar door in the company of the winemaker.

Also on offer is a variety of homemade jams and chutneys, as well as organic cosmetics produced on the estate.

11. Kingsley Grove Estate

Source: Lucky Business / shutterstock

South-west of Kingaroy, Kingsley Grove Estate prides itself on being a self-sustaining winery, with all of the grapes for their range grown on-site.

The vineyard was first planted in 1998 and was ready in 2002 on the year of the estate’s first commercial vintage.

The winery uses state-of-the-art equipment allowing the winemaker to produce wines in traditional styles, while innovating with new creations suiting Kingaroy’s humid subtropical climate.

The cellar door is open daily for tastings, and the range features reds like Merlot, Sangiovese, Syrah and Shiraz, warm white varietals like Verdelho and Semillon, and a choice of rich fortified wines.

12. Pottique Lavender Farm

Source: Ellee Hc / shutterstock

Another crop that does well in Kingaroy’s fertile soils is lavender, and you may be excited to know that there’s a farm for this herb is just outside the town.

A big selection of lavender products is available at the shop, from oil to soap, jams, chutney and dried lavender.

As well as a farm shop Pottique Lavender Farm has an antiques warehouse and a cafe serving Devonshire tea with delectable lavender scones.

The ideal time to come is May, June and July when the lavender field is in flower and you can head out to pick stems by the bunch.

13. Kingaroy Visitor Information Centre

Source: TK Kurikawa / shutterstock

A big plus point for the city’s visitor information centre is the location, opposite the silos and between the regional art gallery and heritage museum.

So if you’re in need of any pointers to get the most out of South Burnett, you won’t have to go far.

The centre offers a host of free services, from one-to-one advice, to booking accommodation and tours and providing leaflets for events, attractions and itineraries.

The staff are volunteers with a real love for their home, and a depth of knowledge that comes from it.

The centre’s shop also deserves a mention, selling many of the goodies we’ve mentioned in this list, like wine and peanut products.

14. Ringsfield House Museum

Source: jemasmith / Flickr | CC BY

Meriting the short drive to Narango is this elegant homestead built in 1908 and designed by noted Queensland architect Robin Dods.

The house has had a few different roles, starting out as a fine residence, then becoming a maternity hospital (almost 4,000 babies were delivered here between 1942 and 1970), then serving as a Lifeline refuge before becoming a house museum in 1992. Ringsfield House stands out for its broad verandahs, and airy, outsized bedrooms.

There’s period furniture and historical displays inside, as well as a cafe for light meals or a hot drink in a refined setting.

15. Nanango Country Market

Source: ChameleonsEye / shutterstock

On the first Saturday of the month Nanango stages a gigantic market, touted as the largest of its kind in South East Queensland.

The Nanango Country Market is attended by an ever-changing contingent of up to 320 stallholders, so there’s always something different.

For a taster you’ll find seasonal fresh produce, honey, seafood, meat, poultry, cheese, plants, furniture, jewellery, toys, homewares, arts and crafts and pet supplies.

Bring an appetite because there’s also an enticing choice of food and coffee outlets.

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Mudgee sits in undulating terrain between the tall ridges of the Cudgegong River Valley.

The high elevation, plentiful sunshine and fertile soils all put the town among Australia’s winemaking capitals.

Everything is just right for gutsy reds like Zinfandel, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, but white grapes like Riesling, Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer also do well here.

Below we’ve got a hand-picked selection of wineries to check out, each with their own signature varieties.

Mudgee’s CBD is a joy for the elegant 19th-century architecture, and for a food scene to match the world-class wine.

1. The Drip Gorge

Source: Anne Greenwood / shutterstock

Mudgee is conveniently close to a natural wonder in the Goulburn River State Conservation Area.

You can walk an easy track beside the Goulburn River to the Great Dripping Wall, where rainwater trickles though the porous rock.

This has a natural air-conditioning effect on the gorge, and temperatures can be 15°C cooler than the ambient level.

Try to be here after a period of sustained rainfall, when these sandstone walls are completely saturated.

The microclimate gives rise to a wealth of plant life, from orchids to tree violets and apple gums.

Also see if you can make a detour to Hands on the Rock, a key Aboriginal art site two kilometres from the Drip Gorge.

2. Lowe Family Wine Co.

Source: Warren Lloyd / shutterstock

One of the stars of Mudgee’s wine scene is Lowe Wines, a certified organic vineyard known for its robust, quartz-loving reds, made with innovative techniques and years of experience.

The vineyards themselves are untrellised and unirrigated, and so produce wine that is a perfect expression of the soil and climate alone.

Lowe’s main varieties are Merlot, Shiraz and the flagship Zinfandel.

And you can pair your glass with selections from the Food Store, located at the cellar door and letting you build your own platter from local cheese, sourdough bread, baguettes, marinated olives, salami, crimson snow apples, double smoked ham and a choice of delicious dips.

3. Moothi Estate Winery

Source: Slow Walker / shutterstock

One of the great things about this cellar door and restaurant east of Mudgee is its high elevation, giving you dreamy views over the vines and sun-lit backdrop from the deck.

The family-owned Moothi Estate produces Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, and gives you a leisurely 45 minutes if you’re here for a tasting.

Or you can book a table for lunch and while away the afternoon.

Most of the ingredients on the menu are sourced locally, and an antipasti plantter will have marinated olives, prosciutto, house-made pastrami, vintage cheddar and much more from around Mudgee.

4. High Valley Cheese Co.

Source: High Valley Cheese Co. / Facebook

This cheese-maker’s creations appear on menus all over the Mudgee region.

High Valley Cheese Co. uses milk from Dubbo’s Little Big Dairy for nine different artisan cheeses, all made in the traditional way.

Among them is a marinated feta, a rouge, a Caerphilly, a smoked cheddar, a triple cream Brie and two kinds of blue cheese.

Opposite the Mudgee Racecourse, High Valley’s factory is on a boutique scale and has a cellar door attached, offering tastings.

5. Robert Stein Winery & Vineyard

Source: Robert Stein Vineyard, Winery and Farm / Facebook

Founded in 1976 and now in its third generation is this single estate vineyard, growing and bottling on site.

The Stein family has a winemaking lineage that can be traced back to 1838, channelling all that knowhow into a flagship Riesling, as well as Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay and Shiraz.

Current winemaker Jacob Stein has taken a whole raft of prizes, including “Winemaker of the Year” several years running at the Mudgee Wine Show.

Swing by the award-winning cellar door for tastings and try salami made from the farm’s own free-range Berkshire pigs, or book a table at the beloved Pipeclay Pumphouse, blessed with panoramas of the Cudgegong Valley.

Another string in Robert Stein’s bow is the vintage motorbike collection, which you can check out for free while visiting the winery.

6. Short Sheep Micro-Winery

Source: Africa Studio / shutterstock

True to its name, Short Sheep Micro-Winery is all about first-rate wine in small batches, using sustainable practices throughout the process, from vine to glass.

When we put this list together in 2020, Short Sheep’s offer comprised reds like the signature Syrah and Cabernet-Merlot, and whites like limited release Chardonnay and Semillon.

One thing that separates the Cellar Door from much of the flock is the generous “Flavours Palette”, on Saturdays when you can explore curated wine and food pairings.

Short Sheep also gets creative with its tasting experiences, letting you try its selection by candlelight, fire and twilight.

7. Mudgee Museum

Source: Mudgee Museum / Facebook

West of the CBD and backing onto the Cudgegong River is a museum documenting Mudgee’s history with the help of a giant collection.

This is runs to more than 60,000 items, from farming tools to natural history specimens.

The setting is also remarkable, at a fine colonial inn from the middle of the 19th century, and complemented by other historical buildings like an early-20th century church and a slab hut.

Among the major exhibits are a 19th-century wagon belonging to a local farming family, a rare cabin chest that arrived in Australia with German immigrants in 1855 and a 1935 Packard that served in the Mudgee Ambulance Service in WW2.

8. Pieter van Gent Winery & Vineyard

Source: Milla Dukina / shutterstock

This 100-acre estate sits just off the Ulan Road, little more than ten minutes out of Mudgee proper.

Pieter van Gent has been in the winemaking business for decades, and produced Australia’s first bottles of Chardonnay in the early-1970s.

The cellar door has a special setting, in the barrel hall, furnished with antique choir stalls and flanked by 20 German oak casks made in the 1850s.

Pieter van Gent’s wines reflect the nuances of the grape, soil, season, climate and the winemaker.

Make sure to sample the famous Mudgee Pipeclay White Port, with its overtones of nectar in the bouquet and a smooth palate from start to finish.

The cellar door is also a sales space for the talented local chocolatier, Amelie.

9. The Cellar by Gilbert

Source: The Cellar by Gilbert / Facebook

Mudgee’s Gilbert family has six generations of winemaking expertise under its belt, and opened this cellar door on the edge of town in 2016. The venue is a cute sandstone building, which has more in a common with an upscale winebar than a typical cellar door.

There you can sample Gilbert Family Wines’ selection, featuring Riesling and blends like “Rouge” (Shiraz and Sangiovese), “Blanc” (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer), Lignée Rouge (Shiraz and Pinot Noir) and Lignée Blanc (Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc). And if you want to see how it’s done there’s a wine masterclass every Saturday afternoon.

10. Mudgee Observatory

Source: Ahmad Khal / shutterstock

Set up by one John Vetter, who has almost 50 years of experience in the field, Mudgee Observatory is a private facility set 15 minutes out of town in an area of dark skies.

This facility is occasionally used by members of the prestigious Sutherland Astronomical Society, but also opens to schools, group tours or individuals keen to do some stargazing.

You’ll need to book ahead for a session, which will include a conducted tour of the night sky using the observatory’s telescopes and binoculars.

There’s also a planetarium here for programs going into depth on celestial bodies as well as the history, present and future of space missions.

11. Putta Bucca Wetlands

Source: Warren Lloyd / shutterstock

If you’ve been overdoing it at Mudgee’s wineries and fancy some exercise, a nature reserve has cropped up on the town’s doorstep.

An exhausted aggregate quarry and Mudgee’s former sewage works have both made way for a wetland site, found on what used to be a meander in the now straightened Cudegong River.

Bordering this oxbow lake are bird hides, and in a short space of time you may see a staggering number of species, from Australian king parrots, to plum-headed finches, mistletoe birds, musk lorikeets and rainbow bee-eaters.

You can navigate the reserve on four different trails, from 400 metres long to a 1.4-kilometre path that hugs the riverbank.

12. St Mary of Presentation Catholic Church

Source: Taras Vyshnya / shutterstock

A building that brings real gravitas to Mudgee’s townscape is the Neogothic St Mary’s Church.

Composed of Botobolar sandstone, St Mary’s was built from 1873 to 1876, but incorporates some older architecture dating back to the 1850s.

The main facade, dominated by an image of Mary, is rich with multifoil tracery, in the blind arches flanking the entrance, a frieze below that statue, a pair of lancet windows and a masterful rose window at the top.

Step inside and there’s much to admire, like the stencilling and stained glass, produced by Glasgow’s Lyon, Cottier & Company.

The pews were carved from maple in the 1930s, while the organ was built by London’s J.W. Walker in 1866 and the Stations of the Cross are the work of London artist George de Pyro.

The church’s standout is the altar, made up of Carrara marble, Rockhampton marble and some green marble from Sweden.

13. Mudgee Heritage Walking Tours

Source: Slow Walker / shutterstock

The CBD is constellated with fine old buildings that have been around since the second half of the 19th century.

This refined architecture gives a hint of the kind of money that was flowing through Mudgee, first on the back of the Australian gold rush and then via the wool industry and arrival of the railway.

The Mudgee Heritage Walking Tour is a weekly event, departing at 10:00 from the Clock Tower at the Corner of Market and Church Streets.

You’ll get to admire some handsome heritage architecture at the Railway Station (1884), Mudgee Post Office (1862) and Town Hall (1880) to name a handful, and will learn about fascinating characters and events in the town’s past.

14. Mudgee Fine Foods Farmers’ Market

Source: Adam Calaitzis / shutterstock

Opposite the visitor information centre, Robertson Park is the venue for a well-attended farmers’ market on the third Saturday of the month.

In a town like Mudgee, with its reputation for quality food and drink, the event is run according to strict farmers’ market guidelines.

This means that everything sold here has been grown, caught, reared, baked, smoked, pickled or brewed by the stallholders themselves.

Think seasonal fruit and vegetables, all kinds of herbs, chutney, oils, feta, macarons, freshly-baked bread and much more besides.

There will be music by local musicians as you shop, and you can grab a bacon and egg roll for breakfast.

15. Mudgee Wine + Food Festival

Source: Rido / shutterstock

This two-week festival has been going for more than 40 years and takes place every September/early-October.

For epicureans there’s no better time to be in Mudgee, for a program brimming with special tastings, exclusive tours, lunches, dinners and live music.

There’s a host of participating cellar doors in the Mudgee, each offering something different, be it special offers or innovative platters and pairings.

The festival all builds up to Flavours of Mudgee, where all of the area’s winegrowers and food producers gather to lay out tastings and delicious bites in the heart of the CBD.

The post 15 Best Things to Do in Mudgee (Australia) appeared first on The Crazy Tourist.

Swan Hill’s allure comes from the history and natural splendour of the Murray, as well as a comfortable climate and abundant sunshine.

Until the railway came through in 1890, Swan Hill was a busy river port, served by paddle steamers that started navigating this stretch of the river in the 1850s.

The Pioneer Settlement is a sensational open-air museum bringing the port days back to life, as well as organising paddle steamer cruises and a fantastic laser show in the evening.

Swan Hills also gives its name to a wine region noted for its longer ripening season and high-quality Shiraz.

1. Pioneer Settlement

Source: Norman Allchin / shutterstock

There’s history in every sense at this outdoor attraction on the idyllic banks of the Marraboor River (Little Murray). This was the first open-air museum in Australia when it opened in 1966, and Queen Elizabeth paid a visit in 1970. Boasting more than 20,000 artefacts, the Pioneer Settlement recreates life on the Murray between the years 1830 and 1930, with a cast of costumed characters and some 50 replica buildings.

Among these you’ll find a post office, old-time photographic studio, newspaper office, Masonic lodge and a genuine Kaiserpanorama (precursor to movies) from 1896. There are two paddle steamers docked at the settlement, the PS Gem from 1876, and the PS Pyap, offering Murray River cruises.

You can browse a Mallee street from the 1920s, take a free horse and cart ride, dress up in period costume and chat with the informative locals.

2. Heartbeat of the Murray Laser Spectacular

Source: denisbin / Flickr | CC BY-ND

As the sun goes down, the riverside at the Pioneer Settlement becomes the stage for a dazzling 3D spectacle mixing lasers, light, sound and water sprays.

This highly creative production uses a nine-metre water screen as a canvas to tell the story of the Murray River across 30 million years.

Looking towards the river from the outdoor theatre there’s a natural Mallee backdrop, combined with historic red river gums, to really ground the show in the Murray’s environment.

The show tends to be seasonal, and booking is essential.

3. Swan Hill River Walk

Source: Phillip Minnis / shutterstock

Give yourself time to see more of the Murray riverside in Swan Hill on this trail that extends for several kilometres and begins in the very north of the town at Miloo Street.

The Pioneer Settlement is just one of the many compelling manmade sights to go with the natural beauty of the Murray.

There are lots of locations harking back to when Swan Hill was a bustling port, like the remarkable Lift Bridge (1896). The first crossing of its kind on the Murray, this bridge was designed with a central span that could be raised to allow paddle steamers to pass through.

There are interpretive boards all along the route highlighting the human and natural history of the area, including the Wati-Wati and Wemba-Wemba people who have been here for up to 13,000 years.

4. Swan Hill Wine Region

Source: Stefano Garau / shutterstock

The town is the anchor for its own wine region, with vineyards mostly set on the Victoria bank of the Murray and irrigated directly by the river.

The sandy and clay-rich soils resemble those in places like Burgundy and Champagne.

Warm climate varietals like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon do well in the Swan Hill Wine Region, but there’s an interesting distinction between Swan Hill and the neighbouring Murray Darling region.

Swan Hill gets a bit more rainfall and cooler temperatures, which allows the grapes to ripen a little slower.

The region’s first winery, St Andrews, opened as long ago as 1930, while new vineyards and cellar doors open by the year.

5. Andrew Peace Wines

Source: Andrew Peace Wines / Facebook

This highly regarded winery is in striking distance of Swan Hill, right on the Murray at Piangil, VIC.

Andrew Peace is a large-scale producer, but is committed to sustainability, generating 200kw through solar panels, and reusing 100% of wastewater.

Since the early 1980s and through three generations, the winery has progressed to one of Australia’s top family-owned wine companies, selling over a million cases in its lifetime and crushing more than 30,000 tonnes of grapes each year.

Andrew Peace wines has a massive range, dominated by Shiraz and Chardonnay.

If you’ve ever wanted to see a mass production facility in action you can arrange a tour, or you could simply drop by the cellar door for tastings and sales.

6. Murray River Cruise (PS Pyap)

Source: Paulharding00 / shutterstock

One of those things you simply have to do in Swan Hill is head down to the wharf at the Pioneer Settlement for a lazy trip along the river.

You vessel will be the trusty PS Pyap, launched in Mannum, South Australia as long ago as 1896. An interesting fact about this paddle steamer is that even though it measures 30 metres long and almost five metres wide, the shallow draft of its hull allows it to navigate waters as shallow as just one metre.

The PS Pyap started life as a floating general store and is now a very appropriate way to see the natural beauty of the riverbanks outside Swan Hill.

The cruise lasts an hour and takes you upriver, past the sumptuous Murray Downs homestead, built in stages from the 1860s to the 1890s.

7. Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery

Source: Mdarroch / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0

The public art gallery for the region is right on the Marraboor River, a brief walk from the Pioneer Settlement.

This opened in 1966, and in 1987 moved into its current purpose-built home by architect Ian Douglas.

The Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery has a packed schedule of around 20 exhibitions a year, along with displays of works from the permanent collection.

With painting, drawing, sculpture, prints and works on paper, the collection features works produced since 1970 and puts an emphasis on Australian Naïve art.

And alongside its many exhibitions there are guided tours, workshops, school holiday programs, artist talks and live music including concerts on the gallery’s own Steinway piano.

8. The Giant Murray Cod

Source: Alex Cimbal / shutterstock

For fans of kitschy sights, there’s a riverine monster lurking by the Swan Hill Railway Station.

The Giant Murray Cod celebrates Murray’s famous predatory freshwater fish.

Despite the name, there’s no relation to the Northern Hemisphere cod.

As well as having a spiritual meaning for the Aboriginal peoples of the Murray-Darling basin, the fish is an apex predator, able to consume any fish smaller than itself, and even snakes and water dragons.

Swan Hill’s own cod is 11 metres long and six metres wide, and was actually created as a prop in the movie Eight Ball (1992) before being adopted by the town.

9. Lake Boga

Source: Dorothy Chiron / shutterstock

In an almost perfect circle, this freshwater lake sits no more than ten kilometres south of Swan Hill.

Lake Boga is a beloved family holiday spot, offering camping, fishing and all manner of water activities.

The namesake township is on the lake’s south-western side, with picnic areas, a railway station, holiday accommodation and a wonderful piece of heritage in the form of the Cannie Ridge Steam Pump operating from 1904 to 1952. There’s a concrete and gravel track encircling the lake, on which you’ll encounter ducks, pelicans and many other species of waterbirds.

10. Flying Boat Museum

Source: Dorothy Chiron / shutterstock

In 1942 the RAAF opened a secret flying boat base on Lake Boga’s west shore.

This was in response to the Japanese attacks on Darwin and Broome, creating a need for a base and repair depot for Catalina flying boats beyond the range of Japanese raids.

The base was closed in 1947, but its memory lives on in the form of a first-rate museum.

The museum incorporates the base’s hidden communications bunker, and features a gleaming Catalina (A24-30) that was restored by the Lions Club of Lake Boga.

This is accompanied by footage, archive photographs, communications equipment, tools and the engines of several flying boats.

11. Swan Hill Town Hall

Source: Alex Cimbal / shutterstock

In the CBD, the Town Hall is a grand piece of heritage, in an Art Deco style with Neoclassical pilasters and urns on its facade.

The building was inaugurated in 1936 to celebrate the centenary of explorer Thomas Mitchell camping at the future location of Swan Hill.

Built to house the municipal chambers and an auditorium, the Town Hall is now dedicated solely to performing arts.

There’s a broad program of live music, theatre, dance, cabaret and comedy, while the venue is also used for conferences, community events and expositions.

12. Nyah-Vinifera Park

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Go a few kilometres downriver, and on the Victoria bank of the Murray there’s a large expanse of untouched nature.

Growing at Nyah-Vinifera Park are fine old river red gums, dating back more than a century and framing lagoons and billabongs on the river’s edge.

There are also small clues pointing to centuries of habitation by the Aboriginal Wadi Wadi People, like middens and burial grounds.

The park’s main path branches off onto side trails that lead to secluded picnic tables, camping sites or fishing spots where you can try to bag a Murray cod.

13. Showbiz Cinemas

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Swan Hill may be a small town with a population of little over 10,000, but if you’re in search of something to do on a quiet evening there’s a great little cinema on the edge of the CBD.

This pocket-sized venue opened in 2013, filling a seven-year need as Swan Hill’s previous cinema was bulldozed to make way for a supermarket in the 2000s.

Fully digital, with high-quality sound and comfortable seating, Showbiz Cinemas has a program combining the latest Hollywood blockbusters with a curated art house and independent movies.

14. Murray Downs Golf & Country Club

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A few minutes away on the NSW bank of the Murray is what is billed as the top golf course anywhere on the river.

This 18-hole championship course has won Victoria PGA course of the year, and is regularly voted among the best resort golf destinations in the country.

The greens and fairways are lush, fringed by mature river red gums and contrasting with the Mallee plains habitats all around.

Among the signature holes is the 5th, requiring a tricky shot over water to the green.

15. Swan Hill Region Information Centre

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From history to nature, wine, sport, culture and outdoor adventure, there are so many aspects to Swan Hill’s appeal that it can be tricky keeping track of everything.

This makes the centrally located regional information centre invaluable.

You can find out about special offers at attractions and wineries, book accommodation and tours and chat with the staff about your next move in the region.

Added to that there’s a gift shop brimming with local goodies like jams, preserves, sauces, wine, oils, liqueurs and natural cosmetics.

The post 15 Best Things to Do in Swan Hill (Australia) appeared first on The Crazy Tourist.

At that time Parkes was in the midst of the gold rush, and even today mining is a way of life for many.

There are lots of things to pique the interest of travellers, but the largest in every sense is the colossal radio telescope of the Parkes Observatory, completed in 1961 and a vital piece of equipment to this day.

Elsewhere, there’s captivating gold rush history close by at Peak Hill and Forbes, the remnant forest of the Goobang National Park and a much-loved tourism complex on the edge of town.

1. CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope (Parkes Observatory)

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It’s amazing to think that if weren’t for this 64-metre steerable radio telescope the world might not have viewed the Apollo 11 Moon Landing in the same way.

Now heritage-listed, the Parkes Observatory was built in 1961 as the brainchild of Welsh physicist Edward George Bowen (1911-1991), who had played a driving role behind the development of radar before WWII.

The Dish, as it’s known, has a become a symbol for Australian scientific progress, and was one of a network of radio antennae that helped transmit live images of the Moon Landing.

The telescope, among green rolling hills west of the Herveys Range, continues to function 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is still used for groundbreaking astronomical research.

If you’re in Parkes this is a must-do, if only to gauge the size of the dish and admire it from the visitor centre’s picnic tables.

2. Parkes Radio Telescope Visitor Centre

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Near the base of that epic telescope is the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope Discovery Centre, recounting the history of the facility and exploring astronomy in a wider sense.

There are interactive exhibits to help visitors young and not so young ponder the big scientific questions, like “What is the Universe Made of?”, and “How Old is the Universe?”. The centre also goes into detail on the origins of the telescope, explaining some of the milestones in its past and laying out some eye-popping statistics.

Also here is an HD theatre, showing educational 3D presentations that can be seen for a small fee.

Afterwards you can browse the shop and make a pit stop at the Dish Cafe, with a terrace in the shadow of the observatory.

3. The Henry Parkes Centre

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On the Newell Highway heading north out of Parkes is the sort of tourism complex that would do any town proud.

Essentially, the Henry Parkes Centre is a visitor information centre combined with four museums in two groups.

The first of these is the Parkes Motor Museum, with a century-spanning collection of vehicles in pristine condition, and the King’s Castle Elvis Exhibit, comprising one of the greatest displays of Elvis Presley memorabilia and personal items outside of the USA.

Then next door you’ve got the Henry Parkes Museum, dipping into the riveting story of Parkes, together with the Antique Machinery Collection, charting the evolution of agricultural technology in the Parkes Shire.

4. Goobang National Park

Source: Calistemon / Wikimedia | CC BY-SA 4.0

In Parkes you’ll be too close to this treasured national park to pass up a trip.

Thirty kilometres out of town, Goobang National Park preserves the largest tracts of remnant forest and woodland in the Central West region.

Something that makes this 50-kilometre strip of wilderness so compelling is that NSW’s coastal and interior flora and fauna overlap here.

The park encompasses the Herveys Range, and you can hike to some magnificent lookouts.

One hike worth every moment is the 4km Burrabadine Walking Track, setting off from the Greenbah Campground for a tough climb to the top of Burrabadine Peak where there’s a sensational view of the farmland to the west.

5. Parkes Aviation Museum

Source: HARS Aviation Museum - Parkes / Facebook

Parkes is a town with a few interesting ties to the field aviation.

One is that Parkes Airport, just east of the town, served as an RAAF station during World War II, home to schools for air navigation and wireless air gunners.

Two decades earlier, in 1919, the aviation pioneer Sydney Pickles landed his Sopwith Camel in Parkes.

The airport’s aviation museum, maintained by the Historic Aircraft Aviation Society (HARS), is in an old RAAF hangar.

Among the exhibits are a Convair 580 (VH-PDW), a Bell AH-1 Huey Cobra, a De Havilland DH. 114 Heron (VH – AHB) and a De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou (A4-275), all intact.

You can also check out airframes for a variety of aircraft, while an extremely rare Lockheed Neptune A89-302 has been going through a long-term restoration.

6. Memorial Hill Lookout

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The best vantage point for Parkes and the surrounding region is a few short blocks east of the CBD.

This is capped by a striking white memorial tower, visible for miles round and which we’ll talk about in the next entry.

As for the hill, this is the most prominent in the area and so gives you unbroken, 360° views of Parkes and the farmland of the Central West region.

There’s a car park near the monument and you can step out and take a bushwalk around the top of the hill.

On the south side are picnic tables so you can idle over the magnificent view south towards Back Yamma, while Rotary Park on the hill’s north side has more picnic facilities and an adventure playground.

7. Parkes War Memorial

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While taking in the panoramas on Memorial Hill you can turn your attention to the monument itself.

This fluted column stands 33 metres tall and is built from reinforced concrete.

On the square lawn surrounding the memorial is a low fence with a concrete flagpole at each corner.

This structure was planned as early as the 1920s, but work was interrupted by World War II and it was finally unveiled in 1953. Initially it paid tribute to the Parke citizens who served in the Australian Army in the world wars, but was later updated for Korea, Malaya and Vietnam.

8. Bushmans Hill Reserve

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Visiting this public park north of the CBD you’ll be standing on the site of one of Parkes first goldmines, which was last worked well over a century ago.

There’s a few remnants from that time lying around, including a preserved square chimney stack.

On the southern side of Bushmans Hill is the newly created Wiradjuri Amphitheatre, testifying to the traditional owners and embellished with indigenous art by Wiradjuri artists from the area.

The hilltop also commands a satisfying view of Parkes and can be climbed from near the Visitor Information Centre.

9. Peak Hill

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To really get in touch with the region’s gold-mining heritage a trip to Peak Hill will be in order.

In the Parkes Shire, this town is around half an hour north of Parkes proper.

Where Peak Hill differs from many other NSW gold rush towns is that the gold rush never really ended.

The goldmine here was still productive up to the 21st century, and you can head for the Peak Hill Open Cut Experience to take a guided or self-guided tour for great views over the mine’s giant terraces, accompanied by fascinating details about the gold rush.

For a fun detour there’s the Big Fish Fossil Hut, the star of which is a Xiphactinus, a monster fish that grew to 4.5 metres.

10. Kelly Reserve

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While plotting your next excursion you could retreat to this peaceful public park enclosing the Bushmans Dam reservoir.

Kelly Reserve combines typical park facilities like picnic tables, a covered barbecue area and an off-leash dog park with some interesting monuments that merit a few minutes of your time.

One is the Elvis Wall of Fame, which has plaques paying tribute to legends of the Australian music scene, from Glenn A. Baker to Noeleen Batley.

Each year, during the Parkes Elvis Festival there’s a new inductee.

Also in the park is a historic steam locomotive, which we’ll describe in more detail below.

11. Cooke Park

Source: Michael Leslie / shutterstock

This carefully looked-after parcel of greenery, sprinkled with trees, is at the south end of Parkes’ CBD.

If you’ve picked up lunch from one of the restaurants on Clarinda Street you could amble over to Cooke Park for a relaxing picnic.

Many of the trees here are mature hardwoods, comfortable in Parkes’ temperate climate and shedding their leaves in autumn after turning beautiful shades of gold and brown.

More than that, on the north-western, Welcome Street side of the park there’s a brand new, multimillion-dollar multipurpose centre, complete with an events stage and events hall.

One of the annual get-togethers intended for this facility is the Parkes Elvis Festival, taking place every January.

12. Forbes

Source: Alex Cimbal / shutterstock

Resting on the banks of the Lachlan River, Forbes is a recommended day trip, less than half an hour south-west of Parkes.

The town is made for a walking tour for its rich 19th-century heritage, encapsulated by the Italianate Post Office, completed in 1881. No wonder then that Forbes was a major shooting location for The Dish (2000), the movie starring Sam Neill, telling the story of the Parkes Observatory’s role in relaying the Moon Landing in 1969.

The town is also suffused with exciting stories from the gold rush days: It was just outside of Forbes in 1862 that the Hall-Gardiner Gang bailed the Lachlan Gold Escort in 1862, committing the largest gold robbery in Australia’s history.

At Billabong Creek you can visit the bushranger Ben Hall’s Death Site, while his grave can be found in Forbes Cemetery.

13. McFeeters Motor Museum

Another reason to make the journey down to Forbes is to see one of Australia’s great private vehicle collections housed in a giant, twin-level showroom.

This fleet includes a lot of rarities you may never have seen before and covers a big spectrum of production dates, from 1902 to the last couple of years.

With informative labels, each vehicle has its own tale to tell and has been polished up to a bright sheen.

Where possible the cars, bikes or trucks are accompanied by mannequins in period dress.

Special mention for the 1905 Minerva, the series of Holdens from the 1950s and 60s, the 1958 Porsche 356 and the 1968 E-Type Jaguar.

14. Railway Pioneers of Parkes

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Parkes played its own small part in making Australia’s vast expanses more accessible by rail.

The town was first hooked up to a branch line of the Orange-Molong line in 1898. Over the years this branch was extended through NSW and South Australia’s immense arid interior, eventually becoming part of the Orange-Broken Hill line, ready in 1927.

In Kelly Reserve there’s a reminder of the achievements of Parkes’ railway pioneers in the form of a preserved 3075 “S” Class Steam Locomotive, which was built at Eveleigh Workshops, NSW and entered service in 1912. The engine was acquired by the Parkes Apex Club in 1975 and has recently been given a fresh paintjob.

15. Sir Henry Parkes Statue

Source: TonyNg / shutterstock

Enjoying pride of place in the heart of the CBD is a statue of Sir Henry Parkes, who between 1872 and 1891 had multiple terms in office as premier of the colony of New South Wales.

In his day, Parkes was described as “the most commanding figure in Australian politics” and now is commonly known as the “Father of the Federation”. He made his mark on the fledgling nation by advocating for the expansion of the continental rail network, opposing convict transportation early in his career and by pushing for the federation of Australia’s six colonies.

Rumour has it that the people of Parkes (then Bushman’s) petitioned the statesman to adopt his name in order to flatter him and make sure the new east-west rail line called at the town.

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